US buy-and-build Fulcrum headed for 2023 revenues of $1bn following latest deal

By: Doug Woodburn

Viadex's takeover by ambitious buy-and-build Fulcrum IT partners will add "rocket fuel" to its global expansion strategy, CEO Dino Cooper has told CRN.

Fulcrum claims it is on course for 2023 revenues of $1bn following its acquisition of the £52m-revenue MSP, which provides kit and managed services to geo-dispersed midmarket companies.

The deal follows Fulcrum's purchase of UK resellers Pure Technology Group and Prodec Networks in 2021 and 2022, respectively, and a maiden US acquisition last month in the form of $230m-revenue consumption specialist Advizex. 

Canadian cybersecurity firm iON United was also added to its North American roster in 2022.

Going by the playbook of Fulcrum founders Shane Maine and Gord McMillan (who previously built and listed two North American tech providers in the form of Pivot and Converge), onlookers can reasonably assume that Fulcrum is rapidly building scale ahead of a potential IPO.

Although the deal enables Viadex co-founder Elliot Read to exit, Viadex will continue to operate as an independent company under its existing management team, Cooper stressed.

That means it's full steam ahead for Viadex's existing push to extend its global footprint from 18 to 52 countries, he added.

"We have the ability to develop what we have already started building: the global operational IP to be a single point of billing in the channel for geo-dispersed deals," Cooper explained.

HPE GreenLake specialist Advizex as a natural ally for Viadex, he added.

"It's rocket fuel for us in terms of accelerating our understanding of more advanced consumption models, and it's rocket fuel for Advizex in that they now have truly global capabilities, which is our USP. Some 65 per cent of our revenues are outside of the UK," Cooper said.

The 34 legal entities Viadex is planning to add by June 2024 map to HPE GreenLake and Ingram Micro global footprint, Cooper said.

"We've heat mapped where our clients - and the clients of partners that work with us in our Global Partner Business - are. We've overlayed onto that where HPE have entities, as they can only do GreenLake where they have entities, and where Ingram have their sheds," he said.

"Having a Viadex entity in each of those countries enables simple point of billing for any partner organisation that has clients with global requirements. Being aligned to where Ingram and the other tier-one distributors are is a strategic element in that plan."

Viadex's sale marks the latest sizeable trade acquisition in the UK channel this year following Vohkus' acquisition by SCC, Tangible Benefit's sale to Bechtle and Adept Technology's takeover by Wavenet.

Fulcrum recently enlisted former Ingram Micro Canada CFO Kelly Carter as head of strategy.

"The channel is fragmented and doesn't serve the market as well as it could," Carter said in a pre-prepared statement,

"Joining Fulcrum allows me to bring my experience to a company focused on addressing these shortcomings and building a world class partner dedicated to its customers. Viadex is a great fit and an important piece of the puzzle as they have built out the global foundations needed to simplify how global projects are deployed and consumed."

Link to CRN Article